Glove for preventing thumb sucking



March 5, 1957 L. D. HILL GLOVE FOR PREVENTING THUMB SUCKING Filed Oct. 28, 1954 Luther Day/ass H/Y/ INVENTOR.

GLOVE FOR PREVENTING THUMB SUCKING Luther Doyless Hill, New Orleans, La.

Application October 28, 1954, Serial No. 465,186

1 Claim. (Cl. 128-133) This invention relates to a guard or glove for the hands of infants and children, which is adapted to function to prevent the infants and children from sucking their thumb or fingers.

An infant or child sucks its thumb to obtain satisfaction from creating a partial vacuum as is necessary in the technique of sucking. The present invention has its primary object in the provision of means for eliminating the suction by preventing a seal being produced by the lips of the child or infant, thus reducing the satisfaction obtained by the child or infant and thus tending to eliminate the thumb sucking.

A further object of the invention resides in the pro vision of a glove for preventing thumb sucking that is comfortable and easy to wear while being decorative and highly attractive to a child having charms forming toys depending from means adapted to lock the glove about the hand of a child and prevent its removal.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a glove for preventing thumb sucking which has elongated strips appended to the finger portions thereof and embedded in the fibers of the glove in such manner as to prevent the strips from being bitten or chewed off of the glove by the child or infant.

Still further objects and features of the invention reside in the provision of a glove for preventing thumb sucking which does not impair the use of the hands and which permits the fingers of a child or infant to extend therethrough, and which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture while being effective to eliminate the cost of correcting damage to the mouth and teeth of an infant or child caused by thumb sucking.

These, together with the various ancillary objects and features of the invention which will become apparent as the following description proceeds are attained by this glove for preventing thumb sucking, a preferred embodiment of which has been illustrated in the accompanying drawings, by way of example only, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device comprising the present invention;

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view as taken along the plane of line 2-2 in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional detail view as taken along the plane of line 3-3 of Figure 1, illustrating the construction of the strips and the manner of securing of the strips to the finger portions of the glove; and

Figure 4 is a perspective view of one of the strips as utilized in the invention.

With continuing reference to the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals designate similar parts throughout the various views, reference numeral 10 nited States Patent 2,783,759 Patented Mar. 5, 1957 generally designates the glove comprising the present invention. This glove includes a hand portion 12 as well as a plurality of finger portions 14 into which the thumb and fingers of an infant or child' can be positioned. The hand portion 12 of the glove 10 is provided with a plurality of slits as at 16 therein, and a chain 18 is threadedly inserted through the respective slits 16 so that when the ends of the chain are secured together by means of a lock 20 or other suitable device, the glove 10 can be lockingly secured over the hand of an infant or child thus preventing the infant or child from removing the glove from his hand.

Attached to the chain 18 and depending therefrom are a plurality of toys or charms of any desired configuration, as indicated at 22 would serve to attract the interest of the child wearing the gloves thereby rendering it a pleasure to the child or infant to wear the gloves and overcoming his natural reluctance to permit the glove 10 to be secured over his hands.

The finger portions 14 and part of the hand portions 12 have woven therein a plurality of elongated strips 24 of any suitable material such as a synthetic plastic material or the like. It is to be recognized that the gloves 12 may be formed of a woven plastic fiber which as can be readily seen in Figure 3 have the strands 26 thereof embedding the strips 24 therein while holding the strips 24 separated to thus provide elongated protuberances for the gloves 10 which will prevent the lips of the infant from creating a partial vacuum thereby decreasing the satisfaction that the infant will receive from sucking action. Further, the manner of securing of the strips 24 to the glove 10 assures that these strips cannot be bitten or otherwise readily torn from the glove, thus increasing the durability of the glove.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the device will be readily understood and further expianation is believed to be unnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction shown and described, and accordingly all suiable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

A glove for preventing thumb sucking comprising a garment configurated to conform to the shape of a hand and fingers and including finger portions and a hand portion, said finger portions being open ended, a plurality of vacuum inhibiting flexible strips extending the full length of said finger portions, said finger portions being formed of a woven fiber material, said strips being embedded in fibers in said material causing separate protuberances to be formed on the outer surfaces of said finger portions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 548,541 Heafield Oct. 22, 1895 1,403,817 Pinson Jan. 17, 1922 1,456,580 Sullivan May 29, 1923 1,929,318 Klosky Oct. 3, 1933 2,561,863 Holm July 24, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 265,598 Great Britain May 26, 1927 

